Dec. 1, 2000

Box Score

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. - The Washington State volleyball team used outstanding hitting to defeat the Tennessee Lady Vols 15-10, 15-1, 15-8, in a Pacific Region first round match held on the campus of Penn State University Friday night.

Washington State, now 19-9 overall, and the sixth seed in the Pacific Region, will play Penn State Saturday, Dec. 2, at 7:30 p.m. ET. Penn State is the defending national champion, the third-seed in the region and ranked 8th in the last national poll.

Tennessee ends the season at 23-10, after coming into the tournament as the 11th seed in the Pacific Region.

Junior Ariana Wilson led the Lady Vols with a match-high 22 kills while Erica Lear and Janelle Hester tagged five blocks each. Tennessee out-blocked the Cougars 9.5 to one.

WSU sophomore LaToya Harris led a trio of Cougars who had spectacular match at the net. Harris tallied 16 kills with no errors in 28 attacks (.571) and had a match-high 13 digs. Chelsie Schafer tagged 14 kills with three errors in 27 attempts (.407) and Melissa Boyle slammed 12 kills down with one error in 17 attacks (.647). WSU hit .397 for the game.

Ten kills in 14 attacks from Harris (.714) plus service aces from Kortney Jamtaas (2), and Schafer, led the Cougars to a 15-10 first game win. Tennessee's Trinia Cuseo (5 kills, .833) and Wilson (11 kills, .588) couldn't provide enough fire power for SEC team. Tennessee won the stats battle as they out-hit (.380 to .367), out-dug (20 to 18) and out-blocked (4 to 0) WSU in the opening game.

"I think the first game was maybe jitters for the NCAA tournament and getting started," LaToya Harris said. "But once we settled down and thought about what we needed to do to improve - pass the ball and run the offense - we were more relaxed. We played well and stayed focused and won the first game."

The second game was quick and relatively easy for the Cougs. The Lady Vols managed only five sideouts as WSU roared to a 15-1 win. Melissa Boyle tallied five kills in five attacks in this game. Tennessee's sole point came from Janelle Hester. WSU hit .542 while holding the orange-clad Vols to .100.

WSU took an 8-3 lead in game three. Tennessee came back to close within three but WSU out-scored the Lady Vols 7 to 2 for a 14-6 lead. The Cougars gave up two points after the first two attempts at game point. But the third time was a charm with Boyle's tip hitting the floor on the Tennessee side.

"I think this was what we expected," Cougar coach Cindy Fredrick said. "I knew we would have a little trouble with their middle hitters. I knew Ariana Wilson and expected Janelle Hester would be a problem too. And they did a nice job. We thought they would be a big block which they turned out to be a much bigger block than we were. We recognize we're not a great blocking team but we try to get touches on the block and don't worry so much if we end up with ten blocks or ten touches. If we end up with touches, we figure our defense will cover everything."

"We served real tough, and we've served real tough all year, and the defense got going. The blocking never did get going but that's okay because we played great defense. And the hitters really picked it up. So between the hitting, the defense and the serving, which is usually characteristic of us, we got going after the first game a bit better."

WSU setter Kali Surplus added, "Playing teams that you've never seen before, when you first come out it's going to be tough because you don't know what to expect. Once we figured it out a little bit, it helped the second and third game."

Washington State (19-9) defeats Tennessee (23-10) 15-10, 15-1, 15-8

STATISTICS:
KILLS: Wilson (Tenn) 22, L. Harris (WSU) 16.
ASSISTS: Lear (Tenn) 41, Surplus (WSU) 44.
SERVICE ACES: Elliott (Tenn) 1, Peterson (Tenn) 1, Jamtaas (WSU) 2.
DIGS: Elliott (Tenn) 11, L. Harris (WSU) 13.
BLOCKS: Hester (Tenn) 5, Lear (Tenn) 5, Bautre (WSU) 1.
Attendance: TBA.